Good News for Now

After sending written testimony to the Hawaiian health committee considering a physician-assisted law, I received the following email from a nurse:

“Hallelujah! The measure is deferred and will not become law in this session…. The testimony opposed (to assisted suicide) was very passionate. It really became clear that although Hawaii tends to be a very liberal, democratic state, the people are much more life-oriented than folks in Washington, Oregon, and the Netherlands. To hear a Native Hawaiian kamaka alii testify her opposition in the Hawaiian language was beautiful. I learned of even more reasons to oppose assisted suicide, and the legislators now have a long list of the flaws in this measure. The testimony changed the hearts of some committee members that were in support of the concept, but now seem to appreciate the risks.”

Of course, this will not stop the well-funded Compassion and Choices organization that will continue to reintroduce such legislation-often even yearly -in states that have rejected such laws in the past. Assisted suicide activists hope that their relentless public campaigns and the routinely positive mainstream media coverage of assisted suicide will sway more and more people to support assisted suicide.

With such support, Compassion and Choices can then even bypass state legislators and courts that usually study such bills more closely and just get assisted suicide passed by state voter referendums.